History

Launched on 22 December 1863, the SS City of Adelaide
was commissioned for the Australasian Steam Navigation Company and
built in Govan, Glasgow by J & G Thomson.[1]
The vessel ran regular passenger services between several
destinations including Melbourne, Sydney[2], Honolulu and San Francisco.
Having undergone a refit in 1871 the vessel operated for a further
14 years before being retired from service in 1885. Following the
merger of the Australasian Steam Navigation Company with the
Queensland Steamship Company, in 1887, City of Adelaide
continued in service with the successor company Australasian United
Steam Navigation Company.

She was sold in 1890 to W. A. Ritchie, of Sydney,[1]
and was converted to a four masted barque by removing her boilers and engines.[3]
In 1895 the barque was sold onto G J Robertson of Sydney.[1]
In 1902 the vessel was purchased by Howard Smith Company of Townsville and used as a hulk for the storage of
coal. In 1912 the vessel caught fire and burnt for a number of days
before flames could be extinguished.[3]
The burnt hulk of the vessel was then purchased in 1915, by George
Butler, the son of the first European resident of Magentic Island.
Butler had the hull stripped, and an attempt was made to float the
vessel to Picnic Bay where it would be scuttled to provide a
breakwater for a jetty. However, as the vessel was being
transported it ran aground off Cockle Bay.[4][3]

During World War
II the wreck of the vessel was used as a practice target by
bomber pilots from the nearby Garbutt Airfield. On October 22nd
1942, six Royal Australian Air ForceBristol
Beaufort bombers of 100 Squadron were participating
in a coordinated mock torpedo attack on Townsville Harbour followed
by a coordinated practice bombing of the wreck of the SS City
of Adelaide. Following a successful mock attack on Townsville
Harbour, the six bombers climbed to approximately 1,000 ft and
proceeded in a vee formation towards Cockle Bay. Several of the
aircraft dived upon the wreck in a bombing run, during which one of
the aircraft appeared to strike one of the masts of the sunken
vessel, before crashing into the shallow ocean approximately 700
meters from the vessel. The plane's fuselage disintegrated on
impact instantly killing three RAAF officers and a US Navy Officer
aboard.[5]

On Christmas Eve 1971 Cyclone Althea
struck the coast of northern Queensland near Magnetic Island,
causing the partial collapse of part of the wreck's iron hull. The
sunken hull of the vessel has become an artificial island hosting a
variety of plant and bird life approximately 300 meters offshore of
Cockle Bay.